Mercenary Manifesto

[Jherad]

Whelp. ******es got it moved into the devless desert.

[cashogy]

wow. just wow

 

i will repost it when i get home tonight. 17 pages, 4k+ views, and it gets moved. smh............

Edited November 25, 2012 by cashogy

[Warshades]

I approve... not that it means anything but I certainly like the small changes rather than sweeping changes. And hey if you can get these changes in then we can always review additional changes once weve really seen the effect.

[xxIncubixx]

fix the class bioware...

[ArchangelLBC]

Gg bw gg

[Macroeconomics]

i think Muzzle Fluting is a natural fit, because every DPS merc takes it (or should be taking it). it is as close to a necessity as you can get for both DPS specs.

 

I disagree. See thread in this forum. Muzzle Fluting is worthless for a Merc Pyro. WORTHLESS.

 

A better buff would be to have Ironsights increase Accuracy AND Aim by 3% per skill point. That helps both Merc dps subclasses. And it certainly isn't overpowered since the only other subclass that is forced to use the low accuracy offhand ranged weapon (gunslingers) already has a talent that increases Accuracy by 30%.

 

But let's be realistic. They aren't going to buff Merc dps. They are still looking for ways to further nerf it.

[cashogy]

I disagree. See thread in this forum. Muzzle Fluting is worthless for a Merc Pyro. WORTHLESS.

 

A better buff would be to have Ironsights increase Accuracy AND Aim by 3% per skill point. That helps both Merc dps subclasses. And it certainly isn't overpowered since the only other subclass that is forced to use the low accuracy offhand ranged weapon (gunslingers) already has a talent that increases Accuracy by 30%.

 

But let's be realistic. They aren't going to buff Merc dps. They are still looking for ways to further nerf it.

 

Muzzle Fluting is "worthless" as a pyro? um, im sorry but what?

 

.5s off of Power Shot cast. that is something you *NEED*. that is a significant decrease, and if you are not taking it you are gimping yourself. how are you NOT taking Muzzle Fluting?

 

the "run and gun" buff DOES help both specs.

[Macroeconomics]

Muzzle Fluting is "worthless" as a pyro? um, im sorry but what? .5s off of Power Shot cast. that is something you *NEED*. that is a significant decrease, and if you are not taking it you are gimping yourself. how are you NOT taking Muzzle Fluting?

 

Like I said, read the thread in this forum entitled "List of pointless talents in the Merc tree". In it you will see a fairly detailed look at why PowerShot and by extension, Muzzle Fluting are WORTHLESS for Merc Pyros in PvP. Bottom line - in all my matches where I've scored 700k or 800k in damage, I haven't used PowerShot once. Not once.

[cashogy]

Like I said, read the thread in this forum entitled "List of pointless talents in the Merc tree". In it you will see a fairly detailed look at why PowerShot and by extension, Muzzle Fluting are WORTHLESS for Merc Pyros in PvP. Bottom line - in all my matches where I've scored 700k or 800k in damage, I haven't used PowerShot once. Not once.

 

rofl. and so you get only 1 Rail Shot proc every 15s. sounds like you really know what youre doing............

 

so i just looked at that thread. you are the only person in it that posted that Muzzle Fluting is useless. you also said that Rapid Shots does more damage than Power Shot. LOL. tell me, even WITH a CGC proc how often does your Rapid Shots hit for > 2.5k? im going to guess NEVER, because you cant. at absolutely max, youre looking at just south of 2k damage, and that is WITH a CGC proc, which you can only get every 6 seconds. ffs, i hit sorc/sages for 3k very often with Power Shot.

 

you also said "what are you really getting from the extra rail shots you proc with Power Shot". um, you get an extra 3.5-4k damage? are you kidding me with this logic? Rapid Shots is NOT even close to equaling Power Shot in terms of overall damage output.

 

and maybe, just maybe, you should get a bit of accuracy in your build if you are having Power Shot miss/get dodged that often. with only 95% accuracy i never have Misses, and i only get dodge/deflected when classes have their specific defensive cooldowns up, in which case Rapid Shots is getting dodge/deflected too.

 

unbelievable...........

Edited November 26, 2012 by cashogy

[Macroeconomics]

rofl. and so you get only 1 Rail Shot proc every 15s. sounds like you really know what youre doing............

 

You seem to have some problems with basic math. At best you get one RailShot proc every 6 seconds. Which implies a RailShot actually taking place once every 7.5 seconds. In my numerical analysis I slotted in a RailShot actually taking place once every 9 seconds. This is a very reasonable turnover rate for that ability.

 

so i just looked at that thread. you are the only person in it that posted that Muzzle Fluting is useless. you also said that Rapid Shots does more damage than Power Shot. LOL. tell me, even WITH a CGC proc how often does your Rapid Shots hit for > 2.5k? im going to guess NEVER, because you cant. at absolutely max, youre looking at just south of 2k damage, and that is WITH a CGC proc, which you can only get every 6 seconds. ffs, i hit sorc/sages for 3k very often with Power Shot.

 

In PvP gear my nominal (base) damage of RapidShot + CGC is fully 30% greater than nominal (base) damage for PowerShot. Furthermore the CGC portion of the former ignores all armor. Thus mean (average) damage for RapidShot + CGC > than mean PowerShot damage. Your hits for 3k with PowerShot vs. a lightly armored target are a result of crits. Which you have willfully ignored for RapidShots + CGC.

 

you also said "what are you really getting from the extra rail shots you proc with Power Shot". um, you get an extra 3.5-4k damage? are you kidding me with this logic? Rapid Shots is NOT even close to equaling Power Shot in terms of overall damage output.

 

You also seem to have problems with the concept of marginal differences rather than absolute differences. As I stated in the thread, an efficient use of Merc Pyro abilities means that you are already at 100% time usage if you use PowerShot 0% of the time. Forcing the use of PowerShot an average of 2.22 times to get a single additional RailShot does not get you an increase in damage output of 3.5-4k (and you are assuming a crit there). Instead you are substituting an lower damage ability (PowerShot) for higher damage abilities 2.22 times to get higher damage ability once. Given a reasonable % chance for interrupts, LoS breaks, etc. this is a losing proposition.

 

and maybe, just maybe, you should get a bit of accuracy in your build if you are having Power Shot miss/get dodged that often.

 

Nice straw man attempt to try and misdirect my statement that PowerShot often fails to connect and do damage into a statement that PowerShot is dodged. Yet you still lack any functional come back for the REALITY that even if you have only a small chance of being interrupted, PowerShot useage is a net decrease in Merc Pyro damage output. And 95% Accuracy? LOL. After 5% defense chance, you are only connecting on 90% of your PowerShots even IF the entire enemy team doesn't use interrupts, stuns, cc's, pushbacks and stands still. That is horrible! I suggest YOU raise your Accuracy so that you get at least some hits from your offhand weapon when using RapidShots so you can get a reasonable rate of CGC procs.

 

unbelievable...........

 

Indeed.

[Bigtarr]

Signed. Something has to change in order to make merc fun to play again. I quit playing altogether. I keep trying to come back but nothing has really changed.

[cashogy]

You seem to have some problems with basic math. At best you get one RailShot proc every 6 seconds. Which implies a RailShot actually taking place once every 7.5 seconds. In my numerical analysis I slotted in a RailShot actually taking place once every 9 seconds. This is a very reasonable turnover rate for that ability.

 

In PvP gear my nominal (base) damage of RapidShot + CGC is fully 30% greater than nominal (base) damage for PowerShot. Furthermore the CGC portion of the former ignores all armor. Thus mean (average) damage for RapidShot + CGC > than mean PowerShot damage. Your hits for 3k with PowerShot vs. a lightly armored target are a result of crits. Which you have willfully ignored for RapidShots + CGC.

 

You also seem to have problems with the concept of marginal differences rather than absolute differences. As I stated in the thread, an efficient use of Merc Pyro abilities means that you are already at 100% time usage if you use PowerShot 0% of the time. Forcing the use of PowerShot an average of 2.22 times to get a single additional RailShot does not get you an increase in damage output of 3.5-4k (and you are assuming a crit there). Instead you are substituting an lower damage ability (PowerShot) for higher damage abilities 2.22 times to get higher damage ability once. Given a reasonable % chance for interrupts, LoS breaks, etc. this is a losing proposition.

 

Nice straw man attempt to try and misdirect my statement that PowerShot often fails to connect and do damage into a statement that PowerShot is dodged. Yet you still lack any functional come back for the REALITY that even if you have only a small chance of being interrupted, PowerShot useage is a net decrease in Merc Pyro damage output. And 95% Accuracy? LOL. After 5% defense chance, you are only connecting on 90% of your PowerShots even IF the entire enemy team doesn't use interrupts, stuns, cc's, pushbacks and stands still. That is horrible! I suggest YOU raise your Accuracy so that you get at least some hits from your offhand weapon when using RapidShots so you can get a reasonable rate of CGC procs.

 

Indeed.

 

ability accuracy is by default 100%, whereas general accuracy is 90%. so by increasing general accuracy to 95%, your ability accuracy goes up to 105%, removing the base defense chance for the majority of players. general accuracy only applies to Rapid Shots, and the equivalent ability for all classes. this is combat mechanics 101 stuff

 

and all of your assumptions are also based on crits. a non-crit CGC does ~450 a tick, and a non-crit Rapid Shots does ~800 damage against a player. a crit CGC does ~900, and a crit Rapid Shots does ~1100 against a player. meanwhile a non-crit Power Shot does 1.4-1.8k, and a crit can manage 2.3-2.8k. and Power Shot can also proc CGC, which gives the potential for an additional 450-900 damage on any given Power Shot.

 

so some basic math skills would show us that the mean damage of Rapid Shots + CGC is ~1.3k non crit, and ~2k crit. whereas the mean damage of Power Shot is ~1.6k non crit, ~2.5k on a crit. and consider the fact that Power Shot also has a 16% chance to proc CGC, adding another potential 450-900 damage on each Power Shot.

 

and then there is the matter of off-hand damage. i look at offhand damage as a nice bonus, since it is so hard to get accuracy to a point where you can count on offhand damage to be reliable. however, offhand damage on Rapid Shots is < 100 damage, even on a crit. offhand damage for Power Shot is ~150 non crit, ~250 crit. which brings the potential mean damage for Rapid Shots + CGC to ~1.4k non crit, ~2.1k crit, and for Power Shots it becomes ~1.7k non crit, ~2.7k crit with the potential for an additonal damage from CGC (450 non crit, 900 crit).

 

whatever math you think justifies telling people that Power Shot is a waste of an ability, it is misleading.

 

and if you are not taking Muzzle Fluting, no wonder you think Power Shot sucks. Rapid Shots does decent damage for a resource free ability, but it is not a better offensive tool than Power Shot when you are able to free-cast.

 

 

 

edit: so i just did an experiment. 2 wzs, 1 where i played like i normally do, and 1 where i did not use Power Shot at all. here are the results:

 

w/ Power Shot: ~9 minute Void Star

 

w/out Power Shot: ~14 minute Novare Coast

 

difference of 40k damage, which is not significant, but not irrelevant either. it is also relevant that the Novare Coast lasted for ~5 minutes longer, and overall produced less damage. Power Shot does more damage, and allows you to use Rail Shot potentially twice every 15 seconds. i will say this tho, the amount of mobility i had during the "w/out Power Shot" warzone was great. i may experiment some more with that play-style, but i still do believe that using Power Shot is better than plain ignoring it.

Edited November 27, 2012 by cashogy

[Kalifus]

Not sure but how much dmg does it do with 5 heats? I would say buffing it to +5k is reasonable. Maybe 7k. But since you only need 3 attacks to build it up to 5, perhaps leave dmg and allow for a build up of 8 or 10 stacks. Takes longer to pull off but could be a 10k hit. Time it with sticky gernade and a railshot and you could have alot of potential without needing an instant TM.

 

Sorry but NO...the target would be long dead and it would become a useless skill that never gets used...in pve I usually have the target dead before I use heatseeker.

[Macroeconomics]

and all of your assumptions are also based on crits.

 

No. I clearly stated those are my nominal (base) numbers. Under a 0% crit chance scenario. If one were to take into account the possibility of critical hits, the pendulum would swing even further in favor of RapidShots because most Merc Pyros have 2 skill points in FireBug which amplifies the critical hit damage from CGC which greatly benefits RapidShots over PowerShot.

 

whatever math you think justifies telling people that Power Shot is a waste of an ability, it is misleading.

 

Misleading math is your counting only a single ticks worth of CGC damage for RapidShots while continuously touting the "potential" for a full sequence worth of damage from CGC for PowerShot - despite PowerShot having a chance to proc CGC that is a small fraction of that for RapidShots. Bottom line remains the same: If you are using PowerShot as a Merc Pyro, you are doing it wrong.

 

Power Shot does more damage, and allows you to use Rail Shot potentially twice every 15 seconds.

 

The first part of your statement I simply disagree with. If you want to use PowerShot, go ahead. I will continue to use a full set of abilities that consumes 100% of my time, even when I am not stunned, cc'ed or interrupted. And that sequence does not include PowerShot.

 

The second part of your statement is simply baffling. The maximum frequency of RailShots achievable via PowerShot comes from the following sequence: PowerShot - RailShot - 3 GCDs - PowerShot - RailShot - 3 GCDs, etc. And it would only occur if every one of your PowerShots procc'ed a RS. It is an atrocious strategy as behaving in such a manner excludes the use of Unload which should be your main RS proc method.

[ArchangelLBC]

I disagree. See thread in this forum. Muzzle Fluting is worthless for a Merc Pyro. WORTHLESS.

 

A better buff would be to have Ironsights increase Accuracy AND Aim by 3% per skill point. That helps both Merc dps subclasses. And it certainly isn't overpowered since the only other subclass that is forced to use the low accuracy offhand ranged weapon (gunslingers) already has a talent that increases Accuracy by 30%.

 

But let's be realistic. They aren't going to buff Merc dps. They are still looking for ways to further nerf it.

 

 

You're a bad, and if you think a 3% accuracy boost is better than getting off 3 instant tracers or power shots in PVP you're a worse. I don't even care how much fluff damage you're doing in PVP, you are gimping yourself and your team by not using Power Shots as filler in pyro spec to reset Rail Shot as often as the internal cooldown lets you do so. Course you're gimping yourself and your team by playing a DPS Merc in the first place, but that's kind of the point of this thread.

[cashogy]

Misleading math is your counting only a single ticks worth of CGC damage for RapidShots while continuously touting the "potential" for a full sequence worth of damage from CGC for PowerShot - despite PowerShot having a chance to proc CGC that is a small fraction of that for RapidShots. Bottom line remains the same: If you are using PowerShot as a Merc Pyro, you are doing it wrong.

 

i cant be bothered to read the rest of your post, but this part caught my eye.

 

the bolded is an incorrect observation. in the math i laid out, i assumed additional damage for CGC as 450 non crit, 900 crit. i added that to both Power Shot and Rapid Shots equally. i also only used the first tick of the CGC dot because it occurs immediately, and can be considered additive to the ability being used. and over the course of the dot, 6s, the comparison of damage between Rapid Shots and Power Shots drastically widens. without the CGC proc's added damage, Rapid Shots does ~800 damage non crit, ~1100 crit, whereas Power Shot does ~1.5k non crit, ~2.5k crit.

 

to humor you, here is some more math. assume CGC procs immediately for either Rapid Shots or Power Shot. over the course of the 6s dot, here is the amount of damage that could be done:

 

Rapid Shots: [800 (non crit) X 4 (number of Rapid Shots in 6 seconds)]+ [450 (non crit CGC) ] X 3 (number of times CGC dot ticks over 6s)] to [1100 (crit) X 4 (number of Rapid Shots in 6 seconds)]+ [900 (crit CGC) ] X 3 (number of times CGC dot ticks over 6s)]

 

Power Shot: [1500 (non crit) X 4 (number of Power Shots in 6 seconds)]+ [450 (non crit CGC) ] X 3 (number of times CGC dot ticks over 6s)] to [2500 (crit) X 4 (number of Rapid Shots in 6 seconds)]+ [900 (crit CGC) ] X 3 (number of times CGC dot ticks over 6s)]

 

that math yields:

 

Rapid Shots w/ CGC: 6150 (non crit) to 9300 (crit)

Power Shot w/ CGC: 11700 (non crit) to 17700 (crit)

 

the math shows that over 6s w/ the CGC dot, Power Shot has nearly DOUBLE the damage potential that Rapid Shots does.

 

so you are free to believe whatever you want, and if it works for you more power to you. but the math does not lie. not using Power Shot is significantly reducing your damage output.

 

 

i also noticed you did not comment on the results of my little experiment........

 

 

i almost missed this part:

The second part of your statement is simply baffling. The maximum frequency of RailShots achievable via PowerShot comes from the following sequence: PowerShot - RailShot - 3 GCDs - PowerShot - RailShot - 3 GCDs, etc. And it would only occur if every one of your PowerShots procc'ed a RS. It is an atrocious strategy as behaving in such a manner excludes the use of Unload which should be your main RS proc method.

 

yes, i only stand there spamming Power Shot and Rail Shot, over and over and over and over................. oh wait, you mean unload procs rail shot too?!?!??!?! now i have 3 buttons to press!

 

you want a good rotation, try this. use Rapid Shots to proc CGC -> thermal det -> power shot -> rail shot. b/c of the speed at which thermal det and power shot apply damage, all 3 (thermal det, PS, and rail shot) apply damage almost in the same instant. you get some good crits, and you are looking at ~8-10k damage. from there it doesnt really matter what you do, but attempting to continually set-up for that 3 ability alpha-strike is usually a good idea.

Edited November 27, 2012 by cashogy

[ArchangelLBC]

ability accuracy is by default 100%, whereas general accuracy is 90%. so by increasing general accuracy to 95%, your ability accuracy goes up to 105%, removing the base defense chance for the majority of players. general accuracy only applies to Rapid Shots, and the equivalent ability for all classes. this is combat mechanics 101 stuff

 

In fairness to macro, who is a bad for completely seperate reasons, this is false. Ranged Accuracy is the accuracy applied to all weapon damage abilities (basically white damage). Power Shots, Unload, and High Impact Bolt all have a base 90% to hit before any buffs are taken into consideration. These types of abilities are also shieldable and run into tank defense chance (If you see a Shadow with a translucent golden bubble around them, notice that all yellow damage stuff goes through, but the abilities I mentioned often get parried/dodged).

 

Tech Accuracy applies to all yellow damage abilities which include Tracer/Heatseeker missiles in the Arsenal tree, and Thermal Detonator, Incendiary Missile, and all DoTs in the Pyro tree. It has a base of 100%.

 

Ok, you may continue.

[cashogy]

In fairness to macro, who is a bad for completely seperate reasons, this is false. Ranged Accuracy is the accuracy applied to all weapon damage abilities (basically white damage). Power Shots, Unload, and High Impact Bolt all have a base 90% to hit before any buffs are taken into consideration. These types of abilities are also shieldable and run into tank defense chance (If you see a Shadow with a translucent golden bubble around them, notice that all yellow damage stuff goes through, but the abilities I mentioned often get parried/dodged).

 

Tech Accuracy applies to all yellow damage abilities which include Tracer/Heatseeker missiles in the Arsenal tree, and Thermal Detonator, Incendiary Missile, and all DoTs in the Pyro tree. It has a base of 100%.

 

Ok, you may continue.

 

i wasnt talking about tech accuracy. hover over your accuracy modifier, and you will see Ranged Mainhand Accuracy and Special Attack Mainhand Accuracy. all weapon damage abilities, excluding Rapid Shots and other classes' equivalents, are considered "Special Attacks" and utilize that particular stat.

 

just like Tech Accuracy, Special Attack Accuracy has a base of 100%. for PvP, you only need 95% base accuracy, which equates to 105% Tech Accuracy and 105% Special Attack Accuracy.

Edited November 27, 2012 by cashogy

[ArchangelLBC]

i wasnt talking about tech accuracy. hover over your accuracy modifier, and you will see Ranged Mainhand Accuracy and Special Attack Mainhand Accuracy. all weapon damage abilities, excluding Rapid Shots and other classes' equivalents, are considered "Special Attacks" and utilize that particular stat.

 

just like Tech Accuracy, Special Attack Accuracy has a base of 100%. for PvP, you only need 95% base accuracy, which equates to 105% Tech Accuracy and 105% Special Attack Accuracy.

 

My parses on training dummy with Full Auto say different (only weapon damage ability I use often enough to get a decent sample size of hits over a 6 minute parse). Accuracy there reflects my weapon accuracy almost exactly, pretty much every time.

 

Edit: Either way saying you'd ask for 3% accuracy instead of what basically equates to three instant TM/PS casts every time Rocket Punch is off cooldown and you have a melee in your face is sheer lunacy.

Edited November 27, 2012 by ArchangelLBC

[Macroeconomics]

to humor you, here is some more math...

 

Humor? Your math which attempts to compare RapidShots to PowerShot while only including a single tick of CGC or including CGC for both despite PowerShot having a small faction of the chance to trigger CGC compared to RapidShots? That's not humorous. That's a symptom of this country's failure to educate its populace in math.

 

Here is the real math. Assuming a 95.5% chance of hitting a target with the mainhand weapon, the chance of procc'ing CGC with Rapid Shots is:74.22%

 

74.22% = 1 - ((.045 +.955* .84)^5)*((.375 + .625*.84)^5)

 

Correspondingly, the chance of procc'ing CGC with PowerShot (assuming 0% chance of interrupts, LoS breaks, etc.) is: 23.75%

 

23.75% = 1 - (.045 + .955*.84)*(.375 + .625*.84)

 

That gives a marginal benefit from CGC to RapidShots of 50.47% of mean CGC damage. Mean CGC damage on my toon is: 2104, giving a marginal benefit to RapidShots of 2104*.5047 = 1061 pts of damage (all of that ignoring armor).

 

On my toon the mean difference between PowerShot damage and RapidShots damage is right at 1100 - all of that impacted by the defenders armor.

 

There is no doubt that mean damage for RapidShots is higher than that for PowerShot. In reality the gap is even bigger than these numbers indicate once one takes into account target movement, interrupts, stuns, etc.

 

i also noticed you did not comment on the results of my little experiment.......

 

No, I didn't feel the need to comment on your attempt to use anecdotal evidence from dissimilar sample pulls to support your argument.

 

You're a bad, and if you think a 3% accuracy boost is better than getting off 3 instant tracers or power shots in PVP you're a worse. I don't even care how much fluff damage you're doing in PVP, you are gimping yourself and your team by not using Power Shots as filler in pyro spec to reset Rail Shot as often as the internal cooldown lets you do so.

 

You are a bitter person with delusional beliefs about what buffs BW is willing to provide to Merc/Commando. However I understand that the increased prevalence of Merc/Commandos who do not play the class to its fullest ability helps to reduce Merc/Commando meta average productivity and thus increase the chance that BW doesn't further nerf us. So I commend you on your suboptimal play and encourage you to continue.

Edited November 27, 2012 by Macroeconomics

[cashogy]

Humor? Your math which attempts to compare RapidShots to PowerShot while only including a single tick of CGC or including CGC for both despite PowerShot having a small faction of the chance to trigger CGC compared to RapidShots? That's not humorous. That's a symptom of this country's failure to educate its populace in math.

 

yes, personal attacks are the key to victory.

 

Here is the real math. Assuming a 95.5% chance of hitting a target with the mainhand weapon, the chance of procc'ing CGC with Rapid Shots is:74.22%

 

74.22% = 1 - ((.045 +.955* .84)^5)*((.375 + .625*.84)^5)

 

Correspondingly, the chance of procc'ing CGC with PowerShot (assuming 0% chance of interrupts, LoS breaks, etc.) is: 23.75%

 

23.75% = 1 - (.045 + .955*.84)*(.375 + .625*.84)

 

That gives a marginal benefit from CGC to RapidShots of 50.47% of mean CGC damage. Mean CGC damage on my toon is: 2104, giving a marginal benefit to RapidShots of 2104*.5047 = 1061 pts of damage (all of that ignoring armor).

 

yes, Rapid Shots has a MUCH greater chance to proc the CGC DoT. but once the DoT is applied, it cannot be refreshed for 6s. which means for the next 6s, you are getting only the base damage of either Rapid Shots or Power Shot. and Power Shot has a significant advantage over Rapid Shots in base damage. its not like the CGC DoT only ticks while using Rapid Shots, you can proc the DoT w/ Rapid Shots, and then use Power Shot as your filler for greater damage output.

 

difference in proc chance =/= difference in damage output

 

On my toon the mean difference between PowerShot damage and RapidShots damage is right at 1100 - all of that impacted by the defenders armor.

 

There is no doubt that mean damage for RapidShots is higher than that for PowerShot. In reality the gap is even bigger than these numbers indicate once one takes into account target movement, interrupts, stuns, etc.

 

Rapid Shots base damage: 886-1212, mean damage of 1049

Power Shot base damage: 1672-2070, mean damage of 1871

 

those are the numbers on my merc. it is *impossible* for you to have greater base damage with Rapid Shots than Power Shot. because of the much greater base damage, Power Shot is the ideal filler ONCE YOU HAVE PROC'D THE CGC DOT.

 

No, I didn't feel the need to comment on your attempt to use anecdotal evidence from dissimilar sample pulls to support your argument.

 

You are a bitter person with delusional beliefs about what buffs BW is willing to provide to Merc/Commando. However I understand that the increased prevalence of Merc/Commandos who do not play the class to its fullest ability helps to reduce Merc/Commando meta average productivity and thus increase the chance that BW doesn't further nerf us. So I commend you on your suboptimal play and encourage you to continue.

 

so despite the fact that i had an extra 5 minutes of warzone and STILL came up 40k damage short of the 'w/ Power Shot' warzone, you will ignore it. how about i get a nice handy dandy parse and post it later.

 

my beliefs are delusional? you think that 1000 is greater than 2000.

Edited November 27, 2012 by cashogy

[Macroeconomics]

yes, personal attacks are the key to victory.

 

An observation about the failings of this country's educational system is a personal attack on you? What complete rubbish....

 

it is *impossible* for you to have greater base damage with Rapid Shots than Power Shot.

 

Reread my previous post. Mean base damage from PowerShot on my Merc is 1100 pts higher than mean base damage from RapidShots. That difference is then lowered by the defender's armor. That means that it will be lower than the benefit RapidShot gets from having a marginally higher CGC proc. The *NET* of those two effects is clearly in favor of RapidShots.

 

my beliefs are delusional?

 

Again, reread my previous post, lest it become necessary for me to make a comment about this country's failure to educate the populace on reading techniques as well as math. Oops, already did it. At any rate, the delusional comment was not directed at you. That is why there is an "originally posted by" tag on the quote.

[cashogy]

Reread my previous post. Mean base damage from PowerShot on my Merc is 1100 pts higher than mean base damage from RapidShots. That difference is then lowered by the defender's armor. That means that it will be lower than the benefit RapidShot gets from having a marginally higher CGC proc. The *NET* of those two effects is clearly in favor of RapidShots.

 

you are aware that Rapid Shots is ALSO affected by opponents armor? both Power Shot and Rapid Shots will be affected by armor exactly the same, meaning that 1100 damage difference will remain.

 

here ya go: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f84/redsoxfanatic08/rapidshot_v_powershot.png

full breakdown of the damage: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f84/redsoxfanatic08/rapidshot_v_powershot1.png

 

and here is the breakdown of powershot damage: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f84/redsoxfanatic08/powershot.png

i have 95.34% Basic Accuracy, 105.34% Tech and Special Attacks Accuracy. as you can see from the graph, the only time a Miss or defensive roll occurs (blank spots on the graph) is the offhand damage of each attack. 100 "swings" of Power Shot were recorded (see the damage breakdown above), which counts both mainhand and offhand seperately. so that is 50 Power Shots. using the Power Shot breakdown graph, you can see that the mainhand damage never misses, only the offhand (offhand is easy to spot b/c it is the significantly smaller bars).

 

so Power Shot *does* use Special Attack Accuracy.

Edited November 27, 2012 by cashogy

[Macroeconomics]

you are aware that Rapid Shots is ALSO affected by opponents armor? both Power Shot and Rapid Shots will be affected by armor exactly the same, meaning that 1100 damage difference will remain.

 

No. Math again.

 

Both RapidShots and PowerShot are affected by enemy armor. However by subtracting base mean damage of RapidShots from base mean damage of PowerShot, it is only that differential that matters. And that differential IS then impacted by enemy armor.

 

Mathematically, if F(x) is the transform for decreasing damage output due to enemy armor, then the difference in base mean damage between RapidShots (RS) and PowerShot (PS) follows this rule:

 

F(PS) - F(RS) = F( PS - RS) as long as F(x) is linear w.r.t. x. Which it is.

 

Heuristically you can think of this as enemy armor having a bigger effect on PowerShot than RapidShot because base mean damage for PowerShot is bigger than RapidShot. It is the fact that more of the non-base damage (from CGC) for RapidShots avoids enemy armor that puts RS over the top vs. PS.

[cashogy]

No. Math again.

 

Both RapidShots and PowerShot are affected by enemy armor. However by subtracting base mean damage of RapidShots from base mean damage of PowerShot, it is only that differential that matters. And that differential IS then impacted by enemy armor.

 

Mathematically, if F(x) is the transform for decreasing damage output due to enemy armor, then the difference in base mean damage between RapidShots (RS) and PowerShot (PS) follows this rule:

 

F(PS) - F(RS) = F( PS - RS) as long as F(x) is linear w.r.t. x. Which it is.

 

Heuristically you can think of this as enemy armor having a bigger effect on PowerShot than RapidShot because base mean damage for PowerShot is bigger than RapidShot. It is the fact that more of the non-base damage (from CGC) for RapidShots avoids enemy armor that puts RS over the top vs. PS.

 

you are massively over-complicating this.

 

yes, 30% of 2000 (power shot) is greater than 30% of 900 (rapid shot). but that still leaves you with 1400 and 630, and im pretty sure that 1400 is still larger than 630.

 

even at 50% armor resistance, Power Shot will do more damage (1000 v 450 in this example). at 80% armor resistance, power shot will do 400 damage, and rapid shots would do 180.

 

if your entire argument is that armor mitigation has less of an effect on Rapid Shots, and that therefore it is somehow more efficient to to use Rapid Shots instead of Power Shot, then i dont know what to say.

 

Rapid Shots < Power Shot. you ultimately want to have a mix of both. and i encourage you to look at the 2 parses i did.